Brazil Sends Helicopters, Aid to Help Flood Victims; 69 Dead

The Brazilian government stepped up rescue efforts in the southern state of Santa Catarina after four months of record rainfall caused landslides and floods that killed at least 69 people.

The Defense Ministry sent helicopters and rescue teams to aid flood victims in towns across the state, according to a government e-mail. The state governments of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Minas Gerais also sent basic food supplies, according to Santa Catarina’s Web site.

More than 1.5 million people have been affected by the floods and at least 53,000 people had to leave their homes, according to a statement on the Web site. Eight towns are completely isolated because of the rain.

Santa Catarina has about 6 million residents spread over an area slightly larger than Hungary. Landslides have covered roads, cut electricity and gas supplies and buried people alive, while rains damaged an extension of the Brazil-Bolivia gas pipeline that links Sao Paulo to the southern portion of the country.

Images on BandNews television channel showed landslides covering houses, entire streets with water flowing and covering the entrances to homes, and rescue boats traveling down the river to help people.

Rainfall this month rose to a record in five major cities, according to Santa Catarina’s Center of Information for Environment and Hydrometeorology. Blumenau, one of the cities worst affected by the floods, has had 878.4 millimeters (34.6 inches) of rain this month, a fivefold increase from the previous November record of 167.2 millimeters set in 2006.

The average rainfall in November in those towns is from 130 to 150 millimeters, according to the site. Brazil’s rainy season typically runs from October to April.

Gas Pipeline

Damage to the gas pipeline interrupted natural gas shipments to at least five cities in the state, according to a statement by the state gas company, Companhia de Gas de Santa Catarina. It will take 21 days to repair a broken stretch of the pipeline in Belchior, Gaspar region, according to Santa Catarina’s Web site.

Petroleo Brasileiro SA, the state-controlled oil company, and Transportadora Brasileira Gasoduto Brasil-Bolivia began a contingency plan together with two natural gas distributors in the states of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul to deliver 30,000 cubic meters of gas per day, enough to supply homes, hospitals and businesses, according to the site.

Blumenau is where Im livin with my parents, just too scared.